Information shared by institutes indicate not a single case has been registered by women at their sexual harassment cell
Information shared by institutes indicate not a single case has been registered by women at their sexual harassment cell
Even as a new scandal is rocking the University of Pune (UoP) after a woman professor tendered her resignation alleging harassment by her senior, officials are nonchalant about the issue.
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Vice-Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar dismissed the incident as a departmental problem and stated that it has ended when the accused head of department was asked to leave. The woman had complained that the accused Prof V N Bhalerao, ex-HOD of Hindi department harassed her on various occasions regarding her attendance and passed comments on her clothes.
Al though the incident has become the talk of the town, MiD DAY found out that harassment at workplace be it sexual or any other form, is reportedly non-existent in campuses across the city. Even if you find that hard to believe, at least that is what the officials would like us to.
After the Supreme Court issued guidelines in 1997, stating that every organisation should set up a cell to deal with sexual harassment cases, most colleges across the city have done so but surprisingly, not a single case has been registered since many years.
No complaints
For example, at Shivaji Nagar's Modern College, a grievance cell for women is in place for more than a decade but Principal D R Rajendra Zunjarrao said not a single woman has complained so far.
"There is no problem of harassment on our campus. In the past 10 years, no one had any grievance though we regularly let our women employees know that such a cell exists for them," he said.
The situation was no different at other colleges like Garware and Fergusson College who all said that though a cell was in place, not a single woman had complained so far.
Dr Ujjwala Bendale, assistant professor and head of women's grievance cell at BVDU's New Law College felt that the Supreme Court guidelines protected only women in corporate houses and not those in informal occupations.
"In our college we haven't received a single case of sexual harassment. But we do spread awareness among students and female colleagues so that they come to us. Maybe men know about the law and are deterred but the women at grassroots level need some help, she said.
A senior professor at Wadia College said that it wasn't that women did not face harassment but simply wouldn't speak up because they feared their careers would suffer.
'What's the point?'"Even if you complain are you really sure that the complaint will be taken seriously? I have known of cases where women had complaints but were later dismissed as frivolous reasons given as they were under performing and pulled up by seniors. In this situation, only a woman has to lose," she said.
However Dr Shobhana Abhyankar, vice-principal and member of sexual harassment prevention cell at Fergusson College, said though she had not received a single case so far, she didn't think fear was a problem for women in the city.
"I don't think that women in colleges across the city, be it teachers or even students, are under pressure or any fear. Maybe in smaller set ups this might be an issue but I don't think this is the reason we haven't received a single case," she said.
